200

Eupolis

majority say ‘Onuchison me!’ and ‘dnuchisamen, we provide the meaning
of the words, and we say that if someone uses (one of them) in reference
to trimming someone’s nails, he should use aponuchizein, whereas in ref-
erence to being precise and searching out something carefully, he should
use onuchizein”)
- Poll. 2.146 άπό δέ των ονύχων όνυχίσασθαι και άπονυχίσασθαι, ώ και
μάλλον χρηστέον, ε’ίρηται δέ τό έξονυχίσασθαι, φαύλως δέ (“onuchisasthai
and aponuchisasthai are derived from onuches (‘nails’), which are to be
preferred, although exonuchisasthai is used, but is bad style”)
- Orus B 38 = Synag. B a 1919 = Suda a 3461.3 άπονυχίσαι μάλλον λέγουσιν
ή όνυχίσαι (“they say aponuchisai rather than onuchisai”)
- Harp. ap. Keaney, ΤΑΡΑ 98 (1967) 209 #13 άπονυχίζειν τό άφαιρεϊν τάς
ύπεραυξήσεις των ονύχων παρά Μενάνδρω (fr. 487) (“aponuchizein means
to remove the excess growth from one’s nails in Menander (fr. 487)”)
- [Hdn.] Philet. 38 άπονυχίζεσθαι λέγουσι τό άφαιρεϊσθαι τούς όνυχας
των δακτύλων· έξονυχίζειν δέ τό λεπτολογεϊσθαι, όπερ και τερθρείαν
λέγουσιν (“they use aponuchizesthai to mean to remove one’s fingernails,
whereas exonuchizesthai is to talk subtly, for which they also use the term
terthreia”)
- Phot, a 2595 άπονυχίζεσθαι και όνυχίζειν καί έξονυχίζειν διαφέρουσι· τό
μέν ούν άπονυχίζειν μετά τής άπό προθέσεως σημαίνει τό τούς όνυχας
άφαιρεϊν. τό δέ όνυχίζειν καί έξονυχίζειν τιθέασιν έπί τού έρευνάν
άκριβώς καί έξετάζειν τό ύποκείμενον πράγμα. Αριστοφάνης Ολκάσιν·
(fr. 421) (“aponuchizesthai and onuchizein and exonuchizein are different.
aponuchizein with the prefix apo mean to trim someone’s nails, whereas
they use onuchizein and exonuchizein in reference to inquiring carefully
and searching out the matter at hand. Aristophanes in Holkades: (fr. 421)”;
taken by Theodoridis to be drawn from Phrynichus)
- Phot, o 367 = Suda o 411 ~ Synag. o 177 όνυχίζεται· άκριβολογεϊται. ούτως
’Αριστοφάνης (fr. 866) (“onuchizetai: he is precise. Thus Aristophanes (fr.
866)”)
Interpretation For trimmed nails as part of a decent public appearance, cf.
Thphr. Char. 26.4 (the Oligarchic Man goes out dressed in his cloak, with his
hair cut and άκριβώς άπωνυχισμένος (“with carefully trimmed fingernails”)),
and see fr. 432 n. The subject of Philet. AP6.307 = HE 3010-17 is a barber who
also trims nails, the implication being that this is not something one normally
did for oneself; cf. the common expressions “Trim my nails!” and “I had my
nails trimmed” (“όνύχισόν με” καί “ώνυχισάμην”) cited at Phryn. Eel. 253 (in
Citation Context).